Tongariro Bridge Pool etiquette tested…

Well done AB’s…

It was less than two weeks ago on 9 August that TRM reluctantly posted the annual reminder “Courtesy costs nothing” report encouraging fishos to try harder to be kind to each other out there.  It failed to influence some as indicated in the following facebook comments. 

Isn’t facebook such a convenient and potentially dangerous way to vent contentious frustrations when fishing.  It was not invented about 20 years ago when the Bridge Pool access was really hotly contested – combat casting – and the popularity was more confined to what is described today as the ‘lower’ bridge pool at the end of Herekiekie Street.  So outside of Turangi nobody knew or cared.  These days any Bridge Pool perpetrators are taking much greater risks of having their photos taken on iPhones and their rudeness being exposed to the world before they have hooked their first fish. 

Some facebook comments about the lack of anglers courtesy last week at Tongariro River Bridge pool…

(TRM have removed the names to protect the contributors)

HC: White supremacist nastiness on the Tongariro River’s famous Bridge Pool this week. Three men refused to follow etiquette that has served the river well for 150 years. They refused to move from their positions, preventing others from entering the pool. One in particular, when asked to move on, would open his pea-brain and unleash his fetid vocabulary. Nazis. These people debase not just themselves, not just the spirit of angling. They debase the very spirit of one of the planet’s great trout fishing rivers.
 
I should have told the cuzzies to go down there and throw them in the river.
 
 
Like too see them trying that at ngongotaha river😂😂😂😂
 
 
No, they sure as hell wouldn’t last long down at the Ngongi Bridge Pool
 
Right on DJ. I’ve seen people thrown in for refusing to move. The other day when I made no progress with these guys, I moved to the tail of the pool where my faith in human nature was instantly restored by a very cheerful Maori gentleman — and I emphasise the word “gentleman” — who said, “Hop in here in front of me mate, I’m okay where I am.” That was a top spot he put me into.
 
They wouldn’t last long if at the Waiteti mouth with big Paul T around. Some of the most sharing kind are our people so not surprised at all mate.

 Yeah P would have those bastards for breakfast.
 
 
And I’m certainly well aware of the sharing. There’s a strong line of Maori blood in our family.
 
Tell ya what HC the bridge pool is the most overrated pool in the whole of New Zealand. IMO Yes I have caught my biggest fish to date in that pool but the fuss around it is ridiculous. Imagine guys like these around awahou in summer!
 
I agree J. I stay pretty close to it and will often start there if there is room first thing, stay for about an hour then move down to the Braids or go upriver for the rest of the day. It’s really a pool for beginners and tourists and Nazis. My favourite areas are the Braids, the town pools, the Birch pools, and the Blue Pool area as long as the access road doesn’t collapse. The tail part of the Bridge Pool down to the rapid can be pretty good with a wet line when the main pool is being choked by nymphers.
 
 Definitely. I’m not really a guy to tell people what to do or speak my mind so I try To go where people aren’t. Unless it’s summer 😉